Two major lessons were reinforced during the New York Knicks' series-clinching Game 6 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night: Jalen Brunson remains the heart and soul and savior of the franchise, and this team is seemingly built to stress the ever living heck out of its fans.
Neither of those things is technically okay.
Fans should want more than a near-miss against an upstart Pistons squad. They should expect more from a team that surrendered control of seven future first-rounders to assemble this core over the summer. They deserve more from an organization that has spent a lion's share of the past five decades running them through the emotional gamut.
The problem is, these Knicks may not actually be built to give the fans what they expect, what they deserve. And that should terrify everyone.
Game 6 was nearly a disaster
New York opened the game playing with a level of urgency it has struggled to maintain, particularly on the offensive end of the floor. The end result: a 15-point lead that made it look like they might control the outcome wire-to-wire.
But Knicks fans know better than to assume everything will be peachy keen, even when they are peachy keen. Sure enough, New York blew that lead, getting outscored in the second frame 38-22. The Knicks rebounded with a 37-point third quarter, outstripping the Pistons by 13 points, and taking an 11-point lead into the final period.
What followed over the next 12 minutes of gameplay was a crash course in all things 2024-25 Knicks. They tantalized with big plays, over-dribbled into oblivion, and threatened to grab defeat from the jaws of victory. Their shot chart from that final frame is drenched in more red than a crime scene in Dexter:
In the end, the Knicks pulled a win out of their you-know-what anyway, thanks largely to the clutchness of real-life superhero Jalen Brunson. His game-winning three came despite being blanketed by Ausar Thompson, who is a certified human eclipse, according to science.
A win is a win is win. The Knicks are headed into the second round, for a matchup against the reigning-champion Boston Celtics. They shouldn't need to apologize.
At the same time, now isn't the time for a victory lap, not for juuuust barely escaping a tenacious Pistons team you are supposed to beat. If anything, New York looks more vulnerable than it did to start the playoffs.
New York has to be much better against Boston
Flying by the seat of their pants, with perhaps the most uninventive and least consistent top-five offense in league history, won't work for the Knicks against the Celtics. They already missed a golden opportunity to get some much-needed rest. Perpetuating their first-round shenanigans will get them eaten alive.
Boston beat New York four times during the regular season, by an average of over 16 points per game. The reigning champs are a little more banged up these days (see: Jaylen Brown's knee), but no less dangerous. They will stress test the Knicks offense just as much as, if not more than, Detroit's ultra-physical defense.
Will head coach Tom Thibodeau have the answer when the Celtics defend Josh Hart with Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford? Because he sure as heck didn't when the Pistons put Jalen Duren on him.
Can Karl-Anthony Towns figure out a way to punish mismatches, on those occasions when Boston sticks Jayson Tatum opposite him in its one-big configurations? Or are we in for a repeat of his up-and-down performance versus Tobias Harris?
Will the Knicks find ways to get into their half-court offense more quickly? Or will we watch them pound the air out of the ball during fourth quarters, late into the shot clock, as they did more often than any other team in the first round?
Which version of Mikal Bridges will show up? How about Deuce McBride? Can this be a Mitchell Robinson series? Is Thibs prepared to futz and fiddle with his rotations if the situation calls for it, as the best and most adaptable coaches tend to do?
The list continues. But the biggest question of all: Does New York have even a puncher's chance of pulling off the second-round upset no one will predict it to get?
If the past 88 games of regular-season and playoff basketball are any indication, Knicks fans already have their answer. And it isn't comforting one.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.